Moonlight Serenade
by Aeris Ultimavara
Summary: Everyone in Elizabeth's life got the happy ending they wanted. Except for Elizabeth. There on that island, she had made a greater sacrifice than anyone ever knew.


_Moonlight Serenade  
_by Aeris Tiniel Mirime_  
_

-The title for this fic came from the title of song number 9 on the soundtrack. It's the music playing during the bonfire scene, and I think it's very lovely and romantic.

-Disclaimer: Pirates of the Caribbean, and all its characters/places belong to Disney, Jerry Bruckheimer's producing company, and whoever else had a hand in making the movie.

* * *

Elizabeth was having the most fun she'd ever had in her life. Here on this beach, around this fire, she could act without restraint, dancing as recklessly as her heart desired, saying whatever she wanted without fear of sounding improper, shouting out a sea shanty she'd only ever been allowed to whisper to herself before, and she was doing it all with Captain Jack Sparrow, who was not only a pirate, a type of person she'd always wanted to meet, but an infamous one, the stories of whom she had grown particularly fond of over the years. 

"Oh, I _love _this song!" Jack cried, musing on his favorite line of "Really bad eggs!"

Rum bottle in hand, he wobbled to the ground, and pulled Elizabeth down beside him. "When I get the Pearl back I'm going to teach it to the whole crew, and we'll sing it all the time."

"And you will be positively the most fearsome pirate in the Spanish Main!" she declared adoringly. No need to be shy and retiring here. At home she would be admonished for such a display of feeling, butnow there was only Jack, and he didn't care.

"Not just the Spanish Main, love, the entire ocean. The entire world. Wherever we want to go, we go."

The concept sounded wonderful to Elizabeth. Waking up in a new place every morning, every day bringing a new adventure, traveling whenever and wherever you wished, never tied down by cares or worries.

"That's what a ship is, you know." Jack told her, as if reading her thoughts."It's not just a keel and a hull and a deck and sails, that's what a ship _needs_ . But what a ship _is _- what the Black Pearl really is...is freedom."

How unlike her life back at home. She wasn't unhappy there, but wouldn't it be grand if she could just be totally free from everything? From facing any problem she didn't want to face, or the burdens of picking her way through awkward relationships? It would be so glorious to just pack up and leave it all behind.

She understood now how trapped Jack must feel. He had tasted that freedom, and was now stuck without it, not knowing when or how he would regain it. She looked at the amber colored liquid in her bottle, as if it's depths could tell her some solution to this problem.

It was then that she came up with a plan. A plan that would help him as much as it would help her.A plan for getting off the island. She knew that alcohol was flammable, and they hadkilos of it here. She also knew that Commodore Norrington would have sent the Royal Navy out to search for her, and they would certainly see a signal made by that much ignited rum.

But Jack would never let her burn it. She would have get him so drunk he wouldn't be conscious enough to stop her.

What she did next was the result of three different conditions. Part of her thought she was simply following the plan, part of her was acting on the rum in her system, and still another part did it because she truly wanted to, but Elizabeth proceeded to lay her head on the captain's shoulder.

"Jack, it must be terrible for you to be trapped on this island," she said, curling up against him.

"Oh yes," he agreed, and wrapped his arm around her. "But the company is infinitely better than last time, and the scenery has definitely improved." He chuckled to himself and looked down at his companion.

Although she was enjoying it, Elizabeth realized that Jack's comments weren't entirely gentlemanlike, and that she now was far closer to him than she had originally planned to be. She sat up, though a mix of partial drunkenness and actual reluctance, made her do so slowly.

"Mr. Sparrow!" she exclaimed in mock shock, "I don't believe I've had enough rum to allow that kind of talk!" Now was when she would have to get him to really chug it.

"I know exactly what you mean, love," Jack smiled. In an attempt to spruce himself up for her, he flamboyantly curled the ends of his mustache, then reached out his right hand to gently stroke her hair.

As she felt his warm touch on the back of her neck, Elizabeth pondered this man and what he represented. She halfway wished could just let him go on flattering her, because she saw him now as a valiant and kind man, not to mention a handsome one. He had saved her life several times, and in all honesty, he _had_ done what he could to save Will, even if hewasn't succesful. He had done all this when he could've easily taken the selfish and wicked route like Barbossa, and for all this she admired him.

True, he was a bit rough about some of his other edges, but wasn't being a good persona start? And hadn't she dreamed of meeting a pirate and going on the account with him since she was a little girl? And wasn't this her chance to do so? It all seemed achingly exciting to Elizabeth, but she knew she just couldn't go gallivanting around the world in a manner such as that. She would forever bring shame on her father in the eyes of Port Royale, Norrington would never stop hunting Jack for taking her away from him, and then there was Will.

For the past eight years, she'd made her affections clear, and given him every opportunity to return them. Now that he was finally taking her up on the offer, she would feel horrible if she turned her back and took it away from him.

It wasn't fair, Elizabeth thought. She did care for Will, but she wasn't engaged yet! She should still be able to change her mind if she wanted, explore her options, and figure out what she wanted to do with her life. But at what price? Ruining everyone else's lives? She sighed a heavy inward sigh, understanding that she would have to sacrifice her happinessin order to give happiness to everyone else. So much for the Black Pearl, and an escape from all her troubles. There would be no pirate's life for Elizabeth Swann.

"To freedom," she said, raising her bottle.  
"To the Black Pearl," Jack answered.


End file.
